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Pro-Palestinian groups participating in a student protest against tuition increases at the City University of New York are blaming the high cost of education on “Zionists.”

In a Facebook post announcing its participation in Thursday’s Million Student March, the Students for Justice in Palestine wrote: “The Zionist administration invests in Israeli companies, companies that support the Israeli occupation, hosts birthright programs and study abroad programs in occupied Palestine, and reproduces settler-colonial ideology throughout CUNY through Zionist content of education. While CUNY aims to produce the next generation of professional Zionists, SJP aims to change the university to fight for all peoples liberation.”

The post was signed by: NYC Students for Justice in Palestine; Students for Justice in Palestine at Hunter College; Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College; Students for Justice in Palestine- St. Joseph’s College; Students for Justice in Palestine at College of Staten Island; Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College; CUNY School of Law Students for Justice in Palestine; Students for Justice in Palestine at Pace University – Pleasantville; NYU Students for Justice in Palestine; and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.

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The Million Student March is a national effort aimed at protesting rising higher-education debt and calling for free tuition at public universities. The national effort does not employ anti-Israel rhetoric.

Students from more than 100 universities across the U.S. are scheduled to participate in the protest.

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